


Didn't Want To Know...

by TwoCatsTailoring



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alcohol, Drinking, Established Relationship, F/M, Past Relationship(s), Past julian/asra mentioned, Sex mentioned, choose your own outcome, drunk conversations, past asra/apprentice mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-11
Updated: 2018-11-11
Packaged: 2019-08-22 02:15:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16588850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoCatsTailoring/pseuds/TwoCatsTailoring
Summary: Drunk lips sink Julian's hopes for remaining blissfully ignorant.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> At the end of the first chapter, there's links to two possible Next Chapters. Since the game isn't done yet (and I'm skittish about retcons. Listen I survived Final Fantasies 7 and 15, I'm SCARRED!) I've given you two options to choose from. Chapter four doesnt change no matter which you pick. :)

“Oh.”

She wasn’t back yet.

It's not that Julian hates him. Because he doesn't. Not anymore. And he isn't _really_ uncomfortable being around him. He is uncomfortable, but just a little bit. But it's not the reason why being around Asra is awkward.

It's always awkward when you’re around an ex. Sort of ex. Person that at one point you wanted way more than what you got from them but you've both moved on and now, you are dating their best friend. Who you believe may have been romantically involved with that ex at one point but you are simultaneously too afraid to ask and probably don't want to know the answer anyway.

Was there a word for that?

Probably not.

Ex would have to do.

“Lranja said for you to make yourself at home,” Asra’s expression stayed neutral as he opened one of the little herb drawers behind the front counter and peered inside. “She said something about wine in the kitchen but I didn't catch all of it.” He looked up and gave Julian a knowing look, “She was running late.”

“Again,” Julian stated with an understanding nod. But the mention of wine perked him up considerably. “Probably the Prakan bottles Dr. Satrinava promised.”

Asra shrugged and waved him off, frowning into the drawer again and scribbling in the notebook that served as the shop's inventory.

Admittedly, this was not as awkward as it had been before. Or would still be if they hadn't come to an unspoken agreement to not make life unbearable for Lranja. She mattered more in the here and now than anything else ever would. At least she did to him. Maybe to Asra too. Probably.

But, he was NOT going to follow that thought down it’s rabbit hole again.

The last time that happened, she found him sobbing into a stein at the Rowdy Raven, kicked him in the shin, and dragged him home. Granted, the reminder of the fact that he, Julian, did not have any competition for her attention or affection was nice, but it was embarrassing that he’d needed it in the first place.

He took the stairs two at a time and sighed with joy when his guess of Prakan wine - fruity and sweet and an impossibly orange color - proved to be accurate. He uncrated two bottles and opened one, inhaling the scent of citrus, sugar, and sunshine. Julian hummed happily, it was perfect. Just as he remembered.

But the taste. Would it be the same as he remembered? Maybe not. There was only one way to find out.  He turned in the tiny kitchen, reaching for a mug from the shelf over the sink.

As he poured, he smiled. Look how civilized Lranja’d made him; drinking wine from a coffee mug instead of straight from the bottle! She truly was a rare jewel, bringing light and sparkle to his life even if she was completely incapable of being on time to anything when left to her own devices.

The wine was a rare treat. Sweet enough to make his jaw lock up for a second, mellowing in the aftertaste to something more bearable. He was halfway through his second mug full, sprawled comfortably in one of the kitchen chairs when Asra poked his head in.

“I thought I heard sounds of your inebriation. Is it that good, or that awful?” he asked as he picked up the bottle, making a face as he sniffed its contents.

“It's... Indescribable,” Julian smiled, feeling the edges if his fingers go blurry.

“It smells like the lemonade the children sell in summer.” Asra laughed, “All sugary water and not much else.”

To Julian's surprise, Asra reached for a cup and poured himself a generous measure of the wine.

“Careful Asra,” he warned, “it _is_ still wine. An excellent one, too.”

Asra only shrugged one shoulder and sipped, his face contorting at the juvenile levels of sweetness, before licking his lips and taking a long drink. “Sugared water with a side of citrus. Not bad.”

******

Lranja was going to murder him. No chance to escape this time. She was his darling, understanding, wonderful Lranja.

And she would be calling Pasha for the shovel brigade this time for sure.

Asra was completely drunk, basking in the window seat and chatting to the dust motes while his hair got steadily more fluffy the further he slid into senselessness and the cushions.

Julian had tried to warn him: Prakan wine is deceptively sweet, hiding its intoxication power behind all that sugar. But Asra hadn't listened.

And now, with having almost no tolerance for alcohol in the first place, it hit him like a ton of bricks.

Julian could only watch, slightly horrified, as Asra’s bones seemed to start to dissolve, causing him to sink into the cushions and going limp as he alternated between humming and telling inanimate objects their futures were bright and full of wonderful things.

Lranja was definitely going to kill him. Still, he stayed put like a good boy to take his killing. He earned it. This was so sad to watch; the slurring decline of the great magician. Surely there was a song about that…?

Julian leaned forward to grab the bottle in front of him, hoping it still held any last drops to take the edge off the fact that he was likely to be buried alive by the most sublime woman he had ever met, only to be met with disappointement. He shot Asra a withering glare for drinking it all, or at least more than his fair share, before reaching for a second bottle.

“Ilya, I have a question,” Asra said to the ceiling. Without waiting for either to reply, he pressed on, “You're very serious about Lur...Lare…” He sighed, then blew a raspberry before taking her name a sound at a time, “Lr-annnn-ya?”

Julian narrowed his eyes at Asra, suspicious of where this was going.  There had been a conversation - more than one actually - where Lranja had made it clear to Asra that she was very serious about Julian, but Asra had never brought it up with him directly. Not that he had to, as far as Julian was concerned. 

They spent most nights together at Julian's house unless Asra was traveling. Lranja didn't like to leave the shop empty overnight, so she stayed here when Asra was gone. Julian had tried several times to come with her on those nights but couldn't sleep when he did. If someone was sick or hurt overnight and needed him, the extra distance and confusion to find him might cost a life. That just wasn't a price he was willing to pay. 

That alone, in Julian’s opinion, made a question about his seriousness or intentions completely unnecessary. He also did not  _ want  _ to have this conversation with Asra. Hearing about it second hand from Lranja had made his brain attempt to retreat to a spot about a foot back and to the right of his head.

And yet, here they were.

For Asra to be asking for  _ Julian's _ feelings there had to be a reason. One he probably wasn't going to like. He should keep his mouth shut. Pretend he didn't hear the question. Asra was drunk, he wouldn't notice and probably wouldn't remember.

“Absolutely,” Julian said confidently.

Well, so much for that.

“Glad to hear that,” Asra tried to nod sagely but he instead only  slid a little further into his boneless slouch, threatening to puddle on the floor.

Silence reigned for several minutes and Julian started to relax. He leaned back, his head against the wall. If that was all, then it wasn't so bad. They were close, after all. And what friend, especially one that had done so much for her already, who  _ knew _ Julian’s track record, wouldn't want some reassurance that Lranja was loved? Cared for? Adored? 

“Does she still fold in on herself when she orgasms?”

Julian's pleasant golden reverie of daydreams where Lranja was laughing at him for having let Asra drink himself stupid was shattered in an instant. He sat upright, listing slightly to the left and gaping at Asra in horrified shock.

But Asra wasn't even looking at him. In fact, Asra was still talking to the ceiling, gesturing vaguely with a floppy hand as he giggled, “That was always the cutest thing.”

Was he actually serious? Was he actually asking Julian this question in all honesty? Right here? In front of the wine? 

Julian uncorked the second bottle and poured a mug-full, shaking his head. There was no way this was actually happening.

This had to be some kind of joke. Asra had to be joking, setting him up or something. Had to be. Well, he wasn't going to fall for it. He wasn't drunk enough to fall into that trap!  Definitely not saying a damned thing in response to that.

And, so what if Asra was right?

She folded up like a paper crane. Every time. And it was the single sexiest, most precious thing he'd ever seen. The only thing that question did was prove what he already suspected. And really,  _ really  _ didn't want to know.

“Yeah, she does.” Julian took a drink straight from the bottle.

Damnit. He was not  _ nearly  _ drunk enough for this.

[She Remembers Everything](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16588850/chapters/38876027)

[She Remembers Nothing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16588850/chapters/38876045)


	2. She Remembers Everything

“So you just told him?” Lranja’s voice was quiet but Julian thought he detected a smile in there somewhere. Not that he could see it, with her back to him, giving Asra the once-over to make sure he wasn’t actually dead. Just passed out drunk.

“I was caught off guard,” he defended, weakly, from his spot at the table, cheek pressed into the wood. “I’m sorry.” It was probably the tenth time he’d apologized and she hadn’t really acknowledged it yet.

He was the deadest man in Vesuvia for sure.

“You know, you could have just asked me.” There was definitely a smile in her voice now.

Julian cracked open one eye when she smoothed back a piece of his hair and laid a light kiss against this temple. “I didn’t really want to know, you know.”

He peeled his face up, happy that she wasn’t angry but still feeling very contrite about the two hour long, mostly one sided, conversation in which he learned, in vivid detail, what Lranja’s sexual proclivities had been during the years she and Asra had been involved. 

There had been no shutting him up. Julian had considered shoving him out the window but had decided against it. First, he would have had to have gotten up which, by that point, was easier thought about than done and second, Julian was  actively trying to dissociate when Asra started a compare and contrast between her and Julian’s sensual skill sets.

As weirdly gratifying as it was to his wine-soaked brain, he  _ really  _ did not want to know that he gave better head than she did.

Lranja sighed and looped an arm around him, tugging Julian to his feet. “I didn't think you did. That’s why I never brought it up.”

“You are a godsend and I love you,” Julian said with a sigh as she steered him in the direction of the bed. He supposed he was too deep in his coffee mug to be of any use to anyone in an emergency tonight. 

“I love you too, babe,” she assured him as she pulled the covers up to his chin and perched on the edge of the bed to pull off her shoes.

The only warning he got of what was about to come was her tell-tale snicker of impending doom before she said, “I mean, it’s awkward enough for you. Living every day with the knowledge that we both know what you look like naked. And….”

Julian groaned and fumbled with the pillow, trying to block out her voice. No, no this is not what he wanted to think about! Not while this soused! Not while she was all warm and forgiving and tucking into bed next to him!

“That we’ve all had equal turns having sex in _ this very bed _ .”

She was wonderful. Lovely and generous, caring and helpful. He loved her more than life itself. But, “Why do you hate me so much?”

Her only response was a contented giggle and a kiss on the tip of his nose before she cuddled up close and fell asleep.

[The Only Logical Conclusion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16588850/chapters/38876084)


	3. She Remembers Nothing

“You know, I had always wondered....” Lranja blinked over at Julian, her expression mildly curious as she settled Faust into place on Asra’s chest, with a warmed rock wrapped in cloth and instructions to wake her if he needed help.

“It makes sense though, doesn’t it? That at some point he and I were more than friends?”

Was she really asking Julian this? Did neither of these people have any sort of awareness of how awkward this was for him? 

Okay, in Lranja’s case, no. Maybe she didn’t. Because she couldn't remember any of it and wasn’t privy to as many of the facts as Julian was. Maybe he should tell her so that he didn’t have to suffer this bone-deep embarrassment alone?

No, that was stupid. She didn't need this in her life. What was done was done, after all. He gave himself a shake and reminding himself about rabbit holes and bad ideas and how he’d met his quota of both for the next three years. At least.

Lranja wrapped an arm around him and helped him up from his spot at the table and through the curtain to the bed at the back of the shop. There was no way he would be of any use to anyone in an emergency tonight, so he didn’t even bother protesting as she settled him into bed,kicking her shoes into a corner before joining him.

Julian sighed, the fuzzy edges of his vision beginning to slide into sleep,with her curled into his arms when she gasped softly then started to giggle.

“Wassit?”

“Julian,” she snickered into his shoulder. “Julian my love? Does this mean that all three of us have, at some point and with each other, had sex in  _ this very bed _ ?”

Julian groaned long and loud, throwing one arm over his face in a sad effort to ignore all of the connotations of her question while she dissolved into laughter beside him. 

[The Only Logical Conclusion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16588850/chapters/38876084)


	4. The Only Logical Conclusion

It was morning.

Very obscenely morning judging from the weak light doing its best to find its way through the narrow crack in the curtains. That small gray light was still enough to make his head pound.

Everything felt thick and heavy. His eyelids were crusty and he hoped it was sweat and not drool that had caused Lranja's hair to stick to his chin. The weight of the covers gave wings to that hope; maybe she'd gotten cold in the night and added another blanket. 

Julian shifted slightly, wincing when his bare shoulder peeled off the wall. How had he gotten this far over in bed?

Who cared?

Thinking hurt.

He shifted again, trying to resettle himself without waking Lranja but something was wrapped around his legs. The extra quilt?

He kicked at it, but it was wrapped good. He tried to kick harder but it squeezed him and shushed him with a groan….

That caused him to sit bolt upright, cracking his head on the shelf over the bed, cursing a blue streak, causing Lranja to wake with a yelp while he gave whatever had him in a death grip a solid heel to the face.

Asra's face. That, even with a growing black eye was blinking blearily up at him with a blank expression. “Hello, Ilya. Didn't see you there,” he said before dropping right back to sleep.

Julian exchanged a baffled look with Lranja before flipping back down and saying firmly, “No. I am not dealing with this right now. Too tired, too hungover. Tomorrow's problem.”


End file.
